The human heart can suffer from various valvular diseases. These valvular diseases can result in significant malfunctioning of the heart and ultimately require replacement of the native valve with an artificial valve. There are a number of known artificial valves and a number of known methods of implanting these artificial valves in humans. Because of the drawbacks associated with conventional open-heart surgery, percutaneous and minimally-invasive surgical approaches are garnering intense attention. In one technique, a prosthetic valve is configured to be implanted in a much less invasive procedure by way of catheterization. For example, collapsible transcatheter prosthetic heart valves can be crimped to a compressed state and percutaneously introduced in the compressed state on a catheter and expanded to a functional size at the desired position by balloon inflation or by utilization of a self-expanding frame or stent.
A prosthetic valve for use in such a procedure can include a radially collapsible and expandable frame to which leaflets of the prosthetic valve can be coupled. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,730,118, 7,393,360, 7,510,575, and 7,993,394, which are incorporated herein by reference, describe exemplary collapsible transcatheter prosthetic heart valves.
A prosthetic valve for use in such a procedure can include a radially collapsible and expandable frame to which leaflets of the prosthetic valve can be coupled, and which can be percutaneously introduced in a collapsed configuration on a catheter and expanded in the desired position by balloon inflation or by utilization of a self-expanding frame or stent. A challenge in catheter-implanted prosthetic valves is control of perivalvular leakage around the valve, which can occur for a period of time following initial implantation. An additional challenge includes the process of crimping such a prosthetic valve to a profile suitable for percutaneous delivery to a subject, as well as for storage and/or delivery to a health care provider.